Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Football Eats 14: Sunshine Wheat Beer-Battered Onion Rings

I just drove back from San Diego County so I'm gonna post a short one today. The first thing I ever really made on my own (I used to "make" BBQ chicken pizzas when I was in high school, but that recipe was so laughably simple that I don't even count it) were onion rings when I was 20 years old. I was watching Food Network and saw Emeril making onion rings and I said "Wait a second... I can make those." And I did, and everyone loved them. But it has been years - literally maybe ten years - since I've made them. My mom asked me to do it again while I was here, so last Saturday, while watching football, I did.

Slice up some onions and soak them in buttermilk for at least a couple of hours.

I used my favorite beer, Sunshine Wheat, for the batter. I poured it in a bowl and let it sit for hours, until it was room temperature and flat. I mixed in one egg and two cups of flour to form the batter.

I dipped each piece of onion in flour, then in the batter, then fried them up for a few minutes before removing them and letting the oil drain.

You can use any kind of seasoning you want, but as an homage I used Emeril's.

Some of the pieces were flabby - I didn't let the oil get hot enough between one of the batches - but the rings that were crispy were outstanding. As good as any I have ever had. The games themselves did not go the way I was hoping, but that's the nature of college football. Sometime you have great days, sometimes you don't.

I will neither cheer for nor recognize the success of Notre Dame until they play conference football. I feel pretty strongly about this. But I'm glad you enjoyed Saturday. (Seriously, I'm not being snarky.)